Chemical Contaminants in Food: Current and Future Challenges.
Rajendra Kumar PatelRunnemede BioScience &
Royal Holloway University of LondonDrugs Control Centre, Kings College, London.
Contaminants in food
�From production practices:
� Pesticides
� Veterinary drugs
� Inadvertent Contaminants:
� From natural & environmental sources.
�Others:
� Manufacturing, storage, packaging, transport.
�Deliberate: FRAUD (melamine, horse meat).
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Contaminants in food
� Developed countries:
�Stringent regulatory frame work has led to
very low levels of contamination.
�In the EU of the total 427,193 targeted
samples analysed in 2012 only 1,071 samples
(0.25 %) were non-compliant.
EFSA supporting publication 2014:EN-540
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EFSA supporting publication 2014:EN-540
• For antibacterials 0.18 % were non-compliant.
• The highest frequency of non-compliance for antibacterials was in honey
(1.5 %).
EU Results for 2012
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Control of veterinary residues in the EU.
� Effort over some years:
�Directive 86/469/EC (September 1986) required
member states to implement a plan based on random
sampling for the detection of groups of residues or
substances, according to the type of animal.
�Revision Directive 96/23/EC specified both random
and targeted sampling criteria.
�Real effort started in 1989 with antimicrobials in
kidney samples collected at slaughter houses.
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1989
1992
1995
AboveMRL
BelowMRL
Total
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
NSS : Residues of Sulphadimidine in Kidney
1989 - 1995
Pe
rce
nta
ge
MRL = 0.1mg Kg-1
1989: 7% over MRL
1995: 2% over MRL
2013: less then 0.1%
over MRL
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Developing Countries
• Lack of robust regulatory framework.
• Lack of Good Practices (education?).
– Extension officers with “side-businesses” to sell agricultural inputs (pesticides, veterinary medicines, etc.). Conflict of interest??
• Segregated production chains for exports.
– No food safety for domestic market?
• Lack of skills and laboratory capacity.
• No surveillance data published.
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2013 EU RESULTS: PRODUCTS IMPORTED
GroupSamples
Analysed
Non-
compliantContaminant
Bovines 511 2 Chloramphenicol, Ivermectin
Pigs 171 5 Chloramphenicol
Sheep/Goats 157 3Chloramphenicol, AOZ (3-amino-2-
oxazolidone)
Horses 80 0
Poultry 766 29 Doxycycline, Chlopidol, Cyromazine
Aquaculture 1951 11
AOZ (3-amino-2-oxazolidone),
Oxytetracycline, Arsenic, Cadmium,
Mercury
Milk 20 0
Eggs 37 0
Rabbit 15 0
Farmed Game 47 1 Chloramphenicol
Wild Game 54 0
Honey 355 1 Sulphathiazole
4164 52
Percentage 1.25%
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RASFF (2012)
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RASFF (2012)
RAPID ALERT SYSTEM – EU
Annual Reports
http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/rapidalert/docs/rasff_annual_report_2011
_en.pdf
India: mycotoxins, microbial contamination,
pesticides and veterinary drug residues
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India: antibiotics and other pharmacologically active
substances banned for use in aquaculture
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CAP
NITROFURANS
Easy availability of veterinary medicines.
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Easy availability of veterinary medicines: even
prohibited substances!!
“powerful gut acting and non toxic growth promoter to
assure better health”
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Availability of veterinary medicines.
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A cocktail! Includes chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin and
neomycin.
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Beta-agonists (e.g. clenbuterol).
� Was a problem in Europe but largely eliminated.
� Currently an issue in other countries e.g. China and Mexico.
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Not just animals!
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Clenbuterol in Mexico: Footballers
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Increasing public awareness: International Food!!
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Good News?? Obesity is an increasing problem!
Public Awareness of contaminants.
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FOOD AUTHETNTICITY and TRACEABILITY:
Examples
• Wrong Descriptions:
• Using cheaper fish
• Labelling cheaper varieties of potatoes as “King Edward”
• Adding undeclared beef to lamb kebabs
• Presence of undeclared ingredients:
• Mechanically Recovered Meat processed products.
• “Chicken Powder”.
“CHICKEN POWDER”
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Chicken Powder!!
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Gulp! Shoppers pay £1.50 (15CNY) a kilo for water in chicken
Published: 8 December 2013
• CUSTOMERS are paying more than £1.50 a kilogram for
water that is used to bulk up the meat.
• Some popular brands are more than 15% added water.
• The meat is pounded with water and additives in machines
similar to cement mixers, in a process known as
“tumbling”.
• The chicken is labelled “with added water”, which
manufacturers say improves the succulence of the meat.
• The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has, however, begun an
investigation into whether manufacturers are breaching
food regulations.
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AN INVESTIGATION INTO INJECTION POWDERS USED IN FROZEN
CHICKEN BREAST PRODUCTS
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Synthesised
bovine peptide
marker
d
Proteomics
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Species specific peptide fragments
Metabolomic Approach to the identification of
Mechanically Recovered Meat (MRM) in Food
Products.
MRM is defined as “product removed by
mechanical means from flesh bearing
bones after deboning or from poultry
carcasses, resulting in the loss or
modification of the muscle fiber
structure”.
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What is Mechanically Recovered Meat
(MRM)
MRM is obtained by removing residual raw meat
from bones, typically using a high pressure
machine.
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MRM is a cheap ingredient for the food industry.
Chicken Nuggets
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Clear and separate labeling of MRM in
products is required.
• Analytical procedures are needed to
differentiate MRM from hand-deboned meat
(HDM) and from recovered under lower
pressures, desinewed meat.
• Microscopy to look at muscle fibre.
• Metabolite profiling to detect the presence of
MRM
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METHODS
• Sample extraction: methanol/water (9:1), dried extracts derivatized and then analyzed using GC-MS.
• Eighty manually chosen peaks were used for the creation of the chemometric model.
• The data matrix table constructed from peak areas for each of the samples and use multivariate analysis and data modeling using SIMICA-P 11 software.
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GC/MS profile of MRM/MSM
DB5 capillary column( 30m×0.25 mm, 0.25 um), temperature ramping from 70 to
310 C at rate of 10 C /min, flow rate:0.9ml/min, mass scan range:10-800 m/z.
Cholesterol
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GC/MS analysis of pork meat products
Score plot of pork MRM and HDM
-10
-5
0
5
-20 -10 0 10 20
t[2
]
HDMHDMHDM
HDM
HDMHDMHDMHDM
LimaLima
LimaLimaLimaLimaLima
Lima
WBWBWBWBWBWB
WBWB
SSSSSSSSSSSS
SP
SPSPSPSPSPSP
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-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
-12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
t[2]
t[1]
HDM_300820HDM_300820
HDM_300820
HDM_070920
HDM_070920HDM_070920
HDM_Tesco_HDM_Tesco_
HDM_Tesco_
MRM_LIMA_3MRM_LIMA_3MRM_LIMA_3MRM_LIMA_0
MRM_LIMA_0MRM_LIMA_0MRM_LIMA_1MRM_LIMA_1
MRM_LIMA_1MRM_SPMRM_SPMRM_SPMRM_SSMRM_SSMRM_SSMRM_WBMRM_WB
MRM_WB
MRM_CLS_ReMRM_CLS_ReMRM_CLS_ReMRM_CLS_WhMRM_CLS_WhMRM_CMS_WhMRM_CMS_ReMRM_CMS_ReMRM_CHS_ReMRM_CHS_ReMRM_CHS_Re
BDBaaderBDBaaderBDBaader
BDBaader
KBCDMP45
KBCDMP45KBCDMP45
KBCDMP45BDDMP45
BDDMP45BDDMP45
DCKBaaderDCKBaader
DCKBaader
DCKBaaderDCWBaaderDCWBaaderDCWBaaderDCNDMP45
DCNDMP45DCNDMP45
Newby_PostNewby_PostNewby_PostNewby_Pre_
Newby_Pre_Newby_Pre_
Validation Samples.
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Real samples from FSA
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
-12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
tPS
[2]
tPS[1]
HDM_Tesco_HDM_Tesco_
HDM_Tesco_
French
FrenchFrench
MRM_LIMA_1MRM_LIMA_1MRM_LIMA_1
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Even cooked meat
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
-14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
tPS
[2]
tPS[1]
HDM_Cooked
HDM_CookedHDM_Cooked
MRM_CookedMRM_Cooked
MRM_Cooked
Desinewed_Desinewed_Desinewed_
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Metabolomics approach: conclusions
• Proposed methodology based on single step extraction method followed by derivatization and GC-MS analysis provided the basis for further method development and validation for metabolite profiling of methanolic extracts derived from meat samples.
• Chemometric model once established and validated could be used for classification of the samples coming to the routine laboratory in different time intervals.
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Emerging Issues in Aquaculture
World aquaculture production of food
fish* by continent (million tons)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.9 1 1.3 1.4
Total
Oceania
Europe
Asia
Americas
* Food fish = fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians, reptiles (excluding
crocodiles) and other aquatic animals (such as sea cucumber, sea urchin, etc.) for
human consumption
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Feed
Costs can be as high as 40 to 50% of total operating costs.
The use of alternative feed such as algae or insect protein
to reduce dependency on soya and fishmeal.
Other Advantages of Algae
1. Taste quality: more “natural”.
2. Improving public health: fish fed from algae based food
present a better ratio of Omega 3/Omega 6 oils in its
flesh.
3. Disease Control
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0
5
10
15
20
25
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Oceania
World aquaculture production of aquatic algae by continent (million tons)
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Horizon Scan
• Marine & fresh water environments are filled with
bacteria and viruses that can attack fish and shellfish,
and can devastate aquaculture farms.
• Bacteria and viruses can also attack microalgae, so
these microorganisms have developed biochemical
mechanisms for self-defence; such mechanisms involve
production of compounds that inhibit bacterial growth
or viral attachment. For instance, extracts of
Scenedesmus costatum exhibit anti-bacterial activity,
these compounds have not yet been characterised.
• Are some of these antibacterial compounds of concern
from a human health perspective?
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World and continental population projections.(A) UN 2012 world population projection
(solid red line).
P Gerland et al. Science
2014;346:234-237
The vertical
dashed line
denotes 2012 Projections by continent:
Asia
Africa
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Increased population in urban areas:
mega-cities
• Much of what we have heard this week
focused on “formal” high-end” supply chains.
• What about the majority of the world
population relying on “informal” supply
chains?
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Urban retail supply in developing countries
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Urban retail supply in developing countries
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Future
• Increasing urban populations.
• Increasing production of aquaculture
• Climate change
• Need for low cost and rapid testing:
– Mobile laboratories?
• Solutions will lie in a multi-disciplinary
approach with engineers playing a bigger role.
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THANK YOU
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